Research by Audrey June (Denny) Lambert

My ancestors were from England, Ireland and Scotland. They settled in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Tennessee. Many made the journey around the Daniel Boone era through the Cumberland Gap where the borders of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia meet. First used by large game animals in their migratory journeys, followed by Native Americans, the Cumberland Gap was the first and best avenue for the settlement of the interior of this nation. I followed the route that my ancestors took and traced my heritage of the Denny-Loftis line. Many of my roots came from John Jared and Laban Loftis. I found many family loops in my search. I organized Family Information Sheets, Family Tree Charts-Six Generations-Names, Five Generations-Names & Dates, Family Stories, Photos and Family History. My interest of the families started when I wanted to trace my family tree for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. I wrote a paper called Family Sampler. I obtained information: Books Used for Reference and Information From Family Members. I organized an Alphabetical List of Family Members & Ancestors and an Alphabetical List of Family Cemeteries. I obtained information on the Dennys from the Denny Bible. I read Family Documents and Land Contracts. I wrote a paper called History of Denny Houses. I received information from family members and my family tree grew and is growing every day with new information obtained. I plan to add to this site as time will permit and as new information is obtained. Any corrections or information is welcomed.

One theory is that the earliest Dennys were Vikings or North Men who settled along the Normandy Coast of France. French history tells of a Danish Prince named Bernard, who, along with his cousin Rollo, settled in Normandy. Members of this Norman colony or settler of Danes were called the Danish Men or L'Denshmen or in French, L'Denne. Some of these early Denshmen migrated across the Channel and settled in southern England. Because of the unrest in the English country side, many of the Surrey Dennys migrated to Ireland and Scotland. Many came to America in the late 1600s and early 1700s to escape hunger, unrest and religious persecution. Most of these people ended up in the Western Frontier which was then Western Pennsylvania.

The earliest records indicating the origin of the Loftis name is this reference to the Lofoten of the Norwegian islands: "... the Vikings used to take their ships to the Northern Islands to scrape the barnacles off their bottoms on the beaches of those islands"; hence the name, Lofoten, which translated into English, means "careen" or to drydock by hauling a ship upon the beach at high tide and let her turn over on one side and then the other side on the next tide. The Chief of the Island Tribe was known as "The Lofoten", or as we would say, "The Dry-Docker of Ships". The family name Loftus and Loftis later emerged as a notable English family name in the county of Yorkshire where they were recorded as a family of great antiquity seated with manor and estates in that shire. During the 16th-18th centuries, England was ravaged by religious conflict. Many families were freely "encouraged" to migrate to Ireland or to the "colonies." Some were rewarded with grants of land while others were banished. Many came to America in the late 1600s and 1700s. The Laban Loftis clan migrated from Maryland and Delaware into Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The documents available on this site are Microsoft Word or Excel documents converted to Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format for viewing. If you do not have a PDF reader, you can download one for free from
Adobe. To limit file size, the image resolution here is not as high as in the original documents. All PDF documents will open in a new browser window.

For a genealogical diversion, my husband and I have a couple of web sites of vacation photos. If you would like to have a look, you can jump to them from our home page.

My friend Carolyn Huddleston has some copies of Stray Leaves
from Putnam County History by Mary Hopson available. The
book is 8.5" x 11", 296 pages and contains many old photos and
stories. If you would like a copy, send $40 (postage included)
to her at: